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WRI is committed to producing high-quality research, including reports, working papers, issue briefs, and fact sheets. Our publications are subject to peer review, and are held to traditional "academic" standards of excellence, such as objectivity and rigor. We also ensure that all of our publications are timely, fit for audience, and rooted in a strategic plan for achieving positive change in the world.

All of our publications are available to download. You may obtain hard copies of select WRI reports at no charge (except shipping and handling) through our print publications catalog.

Creating a Sustainable Food Future, Installment Nine

publication

Installment 9 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that any dedicated use of land for growing bioenergy inherently comes at the cost of not using that land for growing food or animal feed, or for storing carbon.

A Review of the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Readiness Preparation Proposals

This working paper provides regular updates of the Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PPs) and National Programme Documents (NPDs) submitted by REDD+ Country Participants to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and to the United Nations’ Collaborative Programme on Reducing...

This issue brief describes analyses by the World Resources
Institute (WRI) in support of emerging payments for watershed
services (PWS) programs in two major watersheds in Maine and
North Carolina and insights gleaned from work in progress. The
three pilot initiatives...

Energy Use and Efficiency Policies

This paper presents detailed manufacturing energy-use and economic-activity data along with state-by-state policy summaries for the 10 member states of the Midwestern Governors Association. To help inform ongoing policy discussions across the region, this paper offers a snapshot of industrial...

This report introduces the National Adaptive Capacity (NAC) framework, a tool to help governments bring institutional capacity development into their adaptation planning processes. The NAC framework enables its users to systematically assess institutional strengths and weaknesses that may help...

Key Findings and Next Steps

This Working Paper analyzes Indonesia's moratorium on new licenses in primary natural forests and peat lands. The research seeks to better characterize the moratorium's potential impacts and identify opportunities for improvement....

This issue brief reports on the mechanics of and lessons learned from a conservation incentive program focused on the gopher tortoise. Its aim is to inform the successful design and implementation of other candidate programs emerging throughout the southern forests and greater United States.

Role of the Auto-rickshaw Sector

This paper examines the role the auto-rickshaw sector can play in promoting sustainable urban transport in India. It develops a policy vision for this sector and presents recommendations on reforms to address sustainability challenges.

Integrating Ecosystem Services into Business Performance Systems

This report discusses ways in which companies can incorporate considerations of ecosystem services into business performance systems such as corporate strategy development procedures, product design guidelines, environmental impact assessments, and sustainability reporting.

This report is a structured methodology that helps managers proactively develop strategies to manage business risks and opportunities arising from their company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems. This is version 2.0 of the report, which was originally published in 2008.

REDD+ Safeguard Information System

In June 2011, the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) requested input on a guidance document for its REDD+ "safeguard information system." 26 groups have submitted input to date; this Working Paper describes and summarizes those submissions....

This Eco-Audit evaluates efforts to protect and sustainably manage the region’s coral reefs; celebrates management success stories; and documents the extent to which recommended management actions have been implemented in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

This brief provides an overview of the Carbon Canopy, a novel partnership among companies, landowners, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that seeks to leverage markets for ecosystem services to increase the area of southern U.S. forests certified as sustainably managed. It is designed to...

In this testimony, Senior Associate Sarah Forbes describes the state of China’s shale gas industry; governmental policies that will drive its future development in China; the implications of U.S.-China business-to-business partnerships and government-to-government cooperation; and how shale...

New rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce mercury and other toxic air emissions will affect dozens of antiquated power plants currently operating without pollution controls. These
rules have stirred debate in some circles as to whether retrofitting or retiring...

The story of the Chinese wind power industry is remarkable. From a
small number of demonstration projects at the beginning of the century,
the Chinese wind power market has grown to become the world’s largest.
At the end of 2010, it overtook the United States to become the...

Challenging climatic conditions, limited arable land, intense population
pressures and a history of political upheaval have undermined Niger’s
development prospects – 60% of its people live on less than $1 per day.
Over the past twenty years, however, Farmer Managed Natural...

Climate change vulnerability and food insecurity often have common root
causes. Accordingly, measures that address these causes can reduce both
problems at once. This is especially important for the many countries in sub-Saharan Africa that face truly daunting agricultural challenge...

The World Resources Institute, with [CDKN](http://cdkn.org), has developed a series of policy briefs that highlight how climate compatible development can be achieved in a range of developing countries.

Bangladesh is afflicted by a multitude of natural hazards including tropical cyclones, tornadoes, tsunamis, drought, earthquakes, riverbank erosion, landslides, salinity intrusion and arsenic contamination. In an
average year, roughly 10 million Bangladeshi citizens are affected by one or...

Building a Case for Clarification

This paper builds a case for the need to clarify the assumptions, methodologies, and other critical details underlying non-Annex I nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs). It also explains how common accounting rules for Annex I targets will resolve the lack of clarity surrounding...